Cyd Harrell

Cyd is a user research expert who believes you can answer any question as long as you are fearless and creative about methods.

She was the VP of Research for SF-based UX design firm Bolt|Peters until June 2012, when Facebook acquired the company. While there, she helped clients such as Sony, Volkswagen, and Rdio to conduct remote research and real-time usability studies.

In the early 2000s, she led desktop experience and design standards groups at Charles Schwab. Cyd has recently helped multiple local governments in the US learn user-centered practice and techniques. She promises this workshop won't hurt a bit.

Wed

23

09:00 - 12:30

Room 1

Workshop

Rich UX Research on the Fly

No time, no budget, no problem

In this workshop, you’ll learn everything you need to know to conduct solid user research on tight timelines and at minimal cost.

You’ll leave with:

Plans and resources for recruiting participants in advance or in the moment;

Techniques to guide unscripted interviews to answer your research questions;

Methods for capturing research data informally in the field;

A checklist for your complete on-the-fly research toolkit;

The confidence to get real insights to inform your designs, no matter the obstacles;

Thu

25

11:25 - 12:00

Auditorium I

Talk

Practical Jobs To Be Done: A Way Of Seeing

The concept of jobs to be done provides a lens for understanding value creation. It’s straightforward principle: people “hire” products to fulfill a need.

For instance, you might hire a new suit to make you look good at a job interview. Or, you hire Facebook to stay in touch with friends. You could also hire a chocolate bar to relieve stress.

Viewing customers in this way – as goal-driven actors in a given context – shifts focus from the psycho-demographic aspects to needs and motivations. Although the theory of JTBD is rich and has a long history, practical approaches to applying the approach are largely missing.

In this presentation, I will highlight concrete ways to apply the jobs to be done in your work. This will not only help you design better solutions, but also enable you to contribute to broader strategic conversations.